


Karma Police

by Larry_Metal



Series: The Difference Between Us [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Android Gavin Reed, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Heavy Angst, Hurt Gavin Reed, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, RK900 is Nines, suicide ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 13:14:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16409204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larry_Metal/pseuds/Larry_Metal
Summary: One year and two months after coming to the DPD, he was shot on a case for the first time. He’d been lucky up until this point. Instinctively, his hand had pressed against the wound as he stumbled to cover, muttering curses under his breath. Still searching for the suspect, he pulled his hand away for a moment to grab his gun, only to look down and freeze at the sight of blue fluid dripping from between his fingers. Instead of red.Gavin Reed’s brain broke.





	Karma Police

**Author's Note:**

> I blame this tumblr post - https://ask-reed-detroit.tumblr.com/post/178672124538/imagine-an-au-where-gavin-turns-out-to-be-an - , and a DBH Discord server I'm in entirely for this, lmao. We had this discussion about android!Gavin who didn't know he was an android until one day he found out in an awful way, and I started going on about his breakdown and how the only person who could possibly get through to him would be Nines. So then, since everyone wanted me to write it, here it is. Heavy on the angst. But I really like it, I think this idea is really interesting. 
> 
> Title is from the Radiohead song.
> 
> \---
> 
> EDIT: I GOT A FANART FOR THIS AND I'VE BEEN KILLED DEAD. IT LOOKS SO FUCKING GOOD http://amaltheasshole.tumblr.com/post/180138692514/one-year-and-two-months-after-coming-to-the-dpd

_One year and two months after coming to the DPD, he was shot on a case for the first time. He’d been lucky up until this point. Instinctively, his hand had pressed against the wound as he stumbled to cover, muttering curses under his breath. Still searching for the suspect, he pulled his hand away for a moment to grab his gun, only to look down and freeze at the sight of blue fluid dripping from between his fingers. Instead of red._

_Gavin Reed’s brain broke._

It began as a code red alarm suddenly blaring through the precinct, officers scrambling back and forth with radios going off left and right.

Hank was sitting at his desk doing paperwork while Connor had gone to fetch him a coffee when the precinct had suddenly exploded into action. The lieutenant’s first thought was that there was a bomb in the building or something, with a crowd-wide reaction like that. Cursing under his breath, he glanced across the precinct, spotting Connor standing near the wall and frantically talking to two officers.

“Connor!” Hank called, standing up and moving to join his android partner. “The fuck--”

“It’s Detective Reed.” Connor explained. “He’s on the roof, threatening to jump, and he’s armed. That’s all they told me.”

“Jesus Christ.” Hank muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. _What the fuck was wrong with Gavin now?_ Nobody in the precinct really liked Gavin much - he’d always been a loud asshole with a big mouth, but he’d gotten slightly more bearable since getting assigned Nines as his partner - but that didn’t mean Hank wanted him throwing himself off the roof. _And why? Where was this coming from?_ “What--did they say why? What the hell happened?”

Connor shook his head. “There were no details given.” he stated. “I don’t think they know. Lieutenant, I…” Hank stared at him for a moment before he narrowed his eyes.

“You wanna go up there?” he asked in disbelief. Connor’s expression grew tight.

“I think we should.” he said. Before Hank could rail him about “we” and how they should just let the other officers handle it, Connor had already began making his way toward the staircase. “We might be able to help, since we’re Detective Reed’s...acquaintances.” Hank scoffed and Connor offered a sheepish smile. Sure, they weren’t mortal enemies with the guy like they had once been, but neither of them were really buddy-buddy with Gavin either. Really, the only people Gavin actually liked in the precinct were Tina and Nines. And Tina was nowhere to be found while Nines was on another case. “I also just have a feeling that we need to see what’s going on. I believe it’s a…’gut feeling’, as humans call it.”

Hank sighed, though he continued to follow Connor up to the roof anyway. “Fuckin’ android…”

As soon as they stepped through the door onto the roof, the second both their eyes landed on Gavin standing on the ledge, the officers gathered against the walls of the building, Connor suddenly let out a sharp gasp as thirium splattered from his shoulder onto the wall.

“Connor, shit!” Hank shouted, grabbing his partner’s arm before the android could sink to the ground, his expression tight with pain. Across the roof, Gavin held out his gun, his eyes wide and arms shaking so much he could hardly hold onto it.

“Don’t you fucking come over here!” he screamed, his voice high and cracking. “Don’t fucking come near me! Stay the fuck away from me, all of you!”

“Reed!” Hank barked, one hand holding Connor up and the other already inching toward his own gun. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“Lieutenant,” Connor began, his voice quiet with both pain and disbelief. “he’s--”

“You fucking knew about this, didn’t you?!” Gavin yelled, frantically glancing around the roof at the other officers as he waved his gun around, before he turned his glare to Hank and Connor again. “You knew! I bet you all fucking knew, didn’t you?! You all fucking knew except for me!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Hank shouted, and Gavin snarled.

“I’m talking about _this!_ ” At that, Gavin tore open the front of his jacket with one hand, the other still pointing the gun at Connor, and yanked the hoodie off and tossed it to the side. His arms were covered in thirium, as if he’d snapped and beaten the shit out of an android - _was that what had happened?_ As Hank narrowed his eyes, and Connor’s expression simply crumpled with disbelief, that’s when it dawned on the lieutenant.

Underneath the blue blood on Gavin’s arms was damaged - as if he’d clawed at it with his own fingernails - , white chassis.

“Jesus Christ.” Hank muttered. The other officers were all staring in similar bewilderment, and Connor’s expression was one of complete shock and horror. “What the _fuck_.”

“I don’t--I don’t understand…” Connor murmured. Gavin had begun to scream again, his rage directed at no one in particular. “Every scan I ever did of him...he read as human. Even now, his signature is the same as a human’s. Someone must have programmed him that way, but why?” He shook his head. “Why program an android to believe it’s human?”

“Sounds like some kinda fucked up experiment.” Hank put in. “Program an android to think it’s human and see what happens when it finds out it’s not. I wouldn’t be surprised if that Kamski asshole set this up.” He watched Gavin shout and wave his gun around, shaking his head. “Shit. He’s way outta fuckin’ line, but…”

Connor looked down at the jagged slash in his upper arm. “The damage he did to me is minimal.” he explained. “It can be easily fixed. If anything, it’s good he hit me and not a human. He could have done a lot worse.”

Hank heaved an exasperated sigh. “Connor…”

Connor held up a hand. “Don’t worry about me, Lieutenant.” he put in. “I can be repaired. Gavin cannot if he jumps.” His LED whirled yellow as his eyelids twitched. “I’ve already contacted Nines. He’s on his way. If anyone has a chance of getting through to Detective Reed, it’s Nines.”

Gavin began to rant again, directing his rage at the other officers on the roof, and Connor winced. “He is very stressed and highly unstable.” Connor explained in a low voice. “He’s not listening to anyone, he’s too stressed. There’s a high probability he’ll self-destruct.”

“Shit.” Hank muttered. “This is so fucked.”

“The only thing we can do at this point is stall him.” Connor stated. “Keep him from self-destructing until Nines gets here.”

“Yeah, and what if Nines can’t talk him down?” Hank asked.

“That’s also a high probability.” Connor told him, flinching slightly when Gavin swayed where he stood, dangerously close to falling off the edge. “But he’s not listening to any of us, and I doubt he will. There’s also a high probability he’ll fall without intending to, so we have to be careful in what we say to him.”

“Goddammit…” Hank grunted. Connor watched Gavin for a few moments before turning back to his partner.

“I’m going to try to talk to him.” the android stated, not missing Hank’s concerned glance. 

“He could kill you.” the lieutenant put in. “He’s not in his right mind, Connor, he’s…”

“I’ve already preconstructed several ways to evade him should he try to engage me in any way.” Connor put in, and Hank sighed. “I want to help him. I can’t imagine what he’s going through.”

“Just...be careful.” Hank told him. Connor nodded, before he stepped forward slowly, calling out to get Gavin’s attention. The detective turned to him with a scathing glare and snarled. 

“What the fuck do you want?!” he shouted. “You fuckin’ knew about this too, didn’t you?! Think I’m just fuckin’ like you, huh?!”

“Gavin, please listen to me.” Connor began, moving to stand in front of the detective. “We just want to help you.”

“You can’t help me.” Gavin hissed through gritted teeth, and the agony in his voice made something in Connor’s chest twist. The pain and defeat on the detective’s face and in his tone reminded the android of his first mission, with the PL600 named Daniel screaming a very similar thing at him in an eerily similar setting. “None of you can help me!”

“If you let us--” Connor didn’t get a chance to speak before Gavin grabbed him by the front of the shirt and yanked him forward, pressing the barrel of his gun right against Connor’s forehead. Hank cursed under his breath and moved to grab his gun, but Connor just held up one hand behind his back, as though he were signalling that everything was under control. As if.

“There’s nothing _you_ or fucking _any of you_ can do to _help me!_ ” Gavin yelled. “What the fuck was I supposed to be, huh?! Someone’s fucking experiment, let’s see if we can make an _android--_ ” He spat the word like it was poison in his mouth. “--think it’s a human and _see what happens!_ How long have I even been here, huh?! I coulda come here yesterday and been thinking I’ve been working here for fifteen fucking years! Thirty-six goddamn years of my life were nothing but a _fucking lie!_ Just some fucking _programming!_ ”

Gavin scoffed and shoved Connor away, turning the gun on himself this time. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t just blow my fucking brains out right now!” He forced out a bitter, choking laugh. “Or, I’m sorry, should I say _processors?_ ” He hissed the last word with so much venom in his voice that Connor flinched back, his hope of Nines being able to talk Gavin down decreasing by the second. The detective’s stress levels had gone way over their limit a long time ago, it was clear why he was so close to self-destructing. 

Connor couldn’t even fathom what could possibly be going on in Gavin’s head - to discover that his entire life had been a lie, nothing but programmed memories, that every person he’d ever known as part of his family or old friends had never existed in anything but carefully crafted lines of code, that the one thing he feared he would lose his job to and had once hated more than anything...he was one of them. As he ran it over in his head, Connor wondered if he’d be in the same place if he were in this situation instead. 

“Why should it matter anyway?!” Gavin continued to shout, digging the barrel of the gun into his temple. “I’m fucking _replaceable_ anyway! I’m not _fucking alive!_ ” His face twisted in a mix of rage and a multitude of other emotions then as he made a sound like a choked sob. 

“I just wanna go home.” he gasped, and Connor was confused for a moment before he realized what Gavin meant. The detective’s expression gave way to something agonized for a moment as he breathed in sharply. “I just want to go home.” 

That was the moment the door to the roof opened, and Gavin snarled again as he pointed his gun at the new intruder, only for his face to crumple in shock as Nines stepped out. 

“Detective…” the android began, his eyebrows drawn together and his expression a multitude of different emotions. 

“Nines,” Gavin choked out, his gun lowering for a moment before he held it out again, his hand shaking even more now. “stay outta this. I don’t--I don’t want you to see this.” 

“Gavin,” Nines began, taking a step forward, even as Gavin shouted for him to stay back with his hands tightening around his gun. “I do not know what is happening to you.” He held up his hands in an attempt to put on a nonthreatening appearance as he moved a little bit closer. “I can assure you that I had no idea about any of this until Connor informed me today.” 

“You--you fuckin’ knew…” Gavin lowered his gun, still holding it out with shaky hands, though both the human officers and androids on the roof could see that his stress levels were slowly beginning to decrease. Nines took another step towards the detective, now standing only a few feet away from him. He could have probably grabbed him and pulled him down from the ledge, but the android had a better idea. He wanted to get Gavin as calm as he possibly could to avoid hurting him further. 

“I did not.” Nines assured him. “Every time I scanned you, you appeared as human.” Both Gavin and Connor flinched at the bluntness of the RK900’s words, but somehow, Connor knew it was necessary. It might be the only way to get through to him at this point, and judging by the way the detective’s eyes narrowed while his stress levels crept down a few more percentages, it was beginning to work. “I cannot imagine being in your place.” 

“No--no, you c-can’t.” Gavin gasped, his shoulders shaking. “I was never--I was never even _fucking human_. Why the fuck am I even here? Just for someone’s fucking project? See what happens if an _android_ thinks it’s human? Thinks it’s had an _entire fucking life_ that never existed?” 

Nines felt the hopeless agony in the detective’s voice, each word feeling like a stab to his thirium pump, though he couldn’t even begin to think of how it was affecting Gavin. “I do not know.” he murmured. “I am sorry, I cannot answer you.” Gavin scoffed and Nines took another step closer, looking deep into his eyes. “Please listen to me. I do not know how to help you, but you must let me try.” 

Seemingly without truly wanting to, Gavin finally dropped his gun, slowly lowering his trembling hands to clutch at the front of his shirt instead. He stared down at the ground, his shoulders shaking as he slowly breathed in and out, and when he looked back up, Nines had reached for him, holding both hands out for him to take. 

Gavin narrowed his eyes. “I don’t--I don’t have to listen to you.” he snapped, though it was obvious that the fight was rapidly draining from him, and he was desperately running on the last of it. “I don’t have to listen to any of you.” 

“No,” Nines said. “you do not.” His eyes were calm and unassuming as always, his expression open. “I want you to come with me and let me help you,” His blue-grey eyes met Gavin’s frantic ones. “but this is your decision to make.” 

There was a long silence as the two stared each other down, before Gavin hesitantly reached out his violently trembling hands, still covered in blue blood, to Nines. There was another moment before the detective finally put his hands into the android’s, gripping them tightly, though he made no move to step off the ledge. 

Gavin stared down at his and Nines’ joined hands, almost as though he couldn’t believe he’d actually done that. For a moment, he seemed like he was going to pull away and continue his frantic tirade, but instead, all the rage appeared to drain out of him in an instant as he took two steps down from the ledge to stand in front of Nines. 

That was when Gavin finally broke. His expression twisted, and he let out a sharp gasp, before he fell to his knees, yanking his hands out of Nines’ to hold over his face as his body shook frantically. Nines was beside him in an instant, gathering him into his arms and pulling the detective’s face into his chest with one hand on the back of his head. 

The agonized, screaming sob he let out into Nines’ chest made something break inside the android as he held tightly to his partner, words completely failing him. His LED whirled red as he sent a wireless transmission to Connor, before he leaned down and pressed his face into the top of Gavin’s head. The detective wailed, his pain muffled against the front of Nines’ jacket, but not any less sharp and bitter in the air. 

“The situation is under control.” Connor murmured to Hank, and the lieutenant narrowed his eyes as he stared at the scene before him, starting to feel sympathy for Gavin begin to creep in despite his anger at the detective for acting so irrationally. He couldn’t exactly blame him, though, considering the situation. Connor seemed to think the same as he tilted his head. “For the most part. Nines can take care of him from here on out. We’ve done all we could.” 

Hank stared at them for a moment before he nodded hesitantly, signalling to the other officers to stand down and follow him back to the precinct. The lieutenant put his hand on Connor’s uninjured shoulder as they made there way back inside, trying to give the two behind them the space they needed. 

Gavin felt like he was breaking apart as he sobbed into Nines’ chest, choking on gasps and hardly able to breathe as he cried. Nines was silent, knowing that there would be nothing he could say to make this better. Every choked wail that Gavin made felt like a bullet straight to Nines’ thirium pump, but he absolutely refused to let his partner go. It was all he could do. 

It was maybe an hour before Gavin’s desolate sobs finally began to wane, and another few minutes before he breathed out slowly, shakily, and let his entire body sag against Nines’. It seemed like there was nothing left of the Gavin Reed that everyone, including Nines, had once known - that Gavin Reed had disappeared the second he’d clawed at his own skin and bled blue instead of red. It was almost as if Gavin had actually jumped, leaving a fragile, broken man standing on the roof in his place. 

Nines trailed his fingers lightly down Gavin’s back. “I will take you home now.” he spoke quietly, and he felt Gavin nod silently against his chest. As carefully as he could, Nines gathered Gavin into his arms and stood, taking a moment to look down at the broken man in his arms. His tears had stopped a while ago, though there were still tracks dried on his face, and the thirium on his arms had mostly evaporated, leaving the clawed, damaged chassis exposed. 

It was then that Nines realized just how human Gavin looked - when other androids cried, the only thing that happened to their faces was a change in expression and saline running down their cheeks. None of the features like blotchy skin or red eyes that happened in humans. Gavin had apparently been programmed with that to make him appear more human - his eyes were red and raw, so swollen that Nines couldn’t imagine him being able to open them more than halfway, and his cheeks were red and flushed, though it had begun to fade at this point. 

The precinct had closed around a half hour ago, most of the officers having gone home already. Nines slowly crept through the quiet halls, still wanting to preserve Gavin’s dignity and keep anyone from seeing him in such a fragile state, lying completely still in his partner’s arms. He scanned the halls and the rest of the precinct and preconstructed several routes that would let him avoid the few people still working, occasionally glancing down at the detective he was carrying - each time, Gavin never moved. 

Nines carried him all the way to the car, managing to avoid any prying eyes, and gently set him into the passenger seat. Gavin still didn’t react, his eyes closed and eyebrows drawn together with pain as he leaned back in the seat. Nines stared at him for a moment before he sighed and shut the door. 

Neither of them spoke for the entire drive back to Gavin’s apartment. Gavin leaned against the window, his entire body completely still and his eyes closed, and Nines could feel the pain still radiating off him in waves from where he was sitting. He wanted to reach out and take his partner’s hand, reassure him wordlessly that he was there and he was going to stay there for him, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to. He knew that humans often preferred to be alone when they were faced with drastic or traumatic situations. Nines wouldn’t leave Gavin alone for the night, even if the detective screamed and ranted for him to get the fuck out, but he would give him some space. He knew what his partner needed... _he hoped._

As soon as they were at Gavin’s apartment, Nines moved to open his partner’s door and take his arm, but Gavin simply swatted his hands away. “I don’t need your help.” the detective muttered as he stepped out of the car himself. His voice was still thick with pain and raspy from how much he’d screamed earlier - Nines could even hear a faint static crackle lacing every word, and the android felt something twist in his chest. He couldn’t even begin to think of what Gavin could be feeling, experiencing, the things going on in the man’s head. 

“Alright.” Nines stated, though he had a feeling Gavin didn’t really want him keeping his distance, and he felt the overwhelming need to be close to the detective and try to help him through this in any way. But if Gavin wanted to be alone to process this, the android would respect him in that. 

Just like Nines had thought, however, Gavin took a couple steps forward to his apartment, Nines following close behind, before he stopped, letting his arm brush against his partner’s. Nines took that as a sign to drape an arm around the detective’s shoulders, and while Gavin tensed and made like he was going to pull away at first, he eventually leaned heavily into his side and let the android stay close to him as they walked up to the apartment. 

The second they were inside, Gavin headed straight for the bedroom, ignoring the cats jumping down from the couch and ambling over to him. They came to Nines instead, their expressions seemingly confused as their owner stormed to his room instead of paying them any attention. Nines sighed and moved to feed the cats, once again finding himself unable to figure out how to proceed. He’d made one of his prime directives to look out for Gavin a long time ago, but how was he supposed to at this point? All he could think to do to help the detective through this was to be there for him, but he couldn’t help but feel that that wasn’t enough, that it wouldn’t be enough. _That he’d fail one of his prime directives. That he’d lose his partner to himself._

“Gavin,” Nines began as he stepped into the bedroom. Gavin was lying on his side in the middle of the bed, one arm over his eyes. A quick scan of the deep scratches on his arms made Nines wince, not only from imagining the pain of damage like that, but the thought of Gavin doing it to himself, frantically clawing at his flesh and finding white chassis and blue blood as everything he had ever known fell apart so quickly before him. “will you let me help you?” 

The detective knew exactly what he was referring to, letting his arm fall away from his face as he breathed out slowly. Nines kept talking, moving to stand at the side of the bed. “I do not want to agitate you further, but I know that you are in pain.” Gavin sighed again before he nodded silently. “Will you let me take care of your damage tonight, or would you prefer I wait until tomorrow?” He noticed Gavin flinch at the word “damage”, as if being reminded of his new android status had hurt him physically. 

“Do it tonight.” he muttered, moving to sit up on the bed and face Nines. “Just fuckin’ get it over with tonight.” His voice lacked any sort of life at all - it was as though it’d all left him when he’d broken down on the roof. 

Nines nodded and went to fetch the bag of tools Gavin used when he’d have to repair his partner after a case had gone wrong. _And now this was where they were_. The detective said nothing as the android approached him with the bag of tools and a bottle of thirium, only held his arms out to show Nines the damage. 

A quick scan of Gavin’s arms showed Nines the extent of the damage - it wasn’t anything too threatening, but the detective’s synthetic skin was unable to re-materialize over the jagged claw marks in his chassis. Nines removed two devices - one a metal rod that would heat up and cauterize damage in android chassis’, in effect, and another one that would buff out any rough edges and allow the synthetic skin to cover it with nothing showing through. 

“Do you want me to turn off your pain receptors?” Nines asked, and Gavin shut his eyes, breathing out deeply and biting his lip, before he shook his head. 

“No, I--” The detective swallowed roughly. “I need to--fuck it...just leave it on, whatever…” 

Nines gazed at him for a few moments and tilted his head, before he wrote it off as another human intricacy-- _oh. rA9, how was it possible that an android could be programmed to be as human as Gavin? How was any of this possible? How had he never known? How was any of this possible?_

Before he could throw himself into a feedback loop, Nines took one of Gavin’s arms and turned on the cauterizer, letting it heat up for a few seconds before pressing it against the slashes in the detective’s chassis. Gavin sucked in a breath and clenched his jaw, his shoulders tensing as he tried to hold in his reactions. Nines could only put his other hand on his partner’s knee, rubbing circles with his thumb as he wordlessly moved the device over the damage. 

It only took a few minutes to cauterize and buff out the scratches in Gavin’s chassis, and when Nines was finished and had put the tools away, the detective was shaking again, his fingers gripping the bedsheets tightly and his eyes squeezed shut. Nines put a hand on his shoulder and Gavin flinched before he opened his eyes, filled with so much defeat. The android held out the bottle of thirium, and Gavin narrowed his eyes before he sighed and took it, drinking the whole thing without a word. 

He handed it back once it was empty, immediately lying back down on the bed and turning his front away from Nines, burying his face in his hands. The android set the empty bottle down and moved across the room to turn off the lights, before he returned to crawl into bed beside Gavin, pulling him close to his chest and wrapping his arms around him. 

The detective’s entire body tensed, and for a moment, Nines expected him to pull away, and he would allow him to, but after a moment, Gavin turned so that he could bury his face in the android’s chest and cling to him like a lifeline. He let out a shaky sigh and Nines stroked a hand over his back. 

“What am I supposed to do now?” Gavin’s murmur was quiet, so hopeless and defeated, and Nines could only pull him closer to his chest and run his fingers soothingly down his back. 

Even being Cyberlife’s most advanced android to date, state of the art, top of the line technology, endowed with the ability to accurately preconstruct past and possible future events, Nines found he couldn’t answer the detective. He truly didn’t know just as much as Gavin what they were going to do, what _Gavin_ was going to do. “I do not know.” he said quietly, and he felt his partner exhale shakily against his chest. “I am sorry. I do not know.” 

A pause, before Gavin spoke again. “Don’t leave.” he breathed, his voice sounding choked. Nines detected the rise in Gavin’s heart rate and the rapid heating of his face immediately, and he ran his fingers into his partner’s hair, his other hand stroking over his shoulder blades. 

“I will not.” the android told him, because it was all he could say, because it was all he knew how to do. And it was the only thing Gavin could think to want, the only thing he could be sure of at that point. 


End file.
